The Salt Range: Pakistan's unique field museum of ... - Paleopolis
The Salt Range: Pakistan's unique field museum of ... - Paleopolis
The Salt Range: Pakistan's unique field museum of ... - Paleopolis
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Bandarkas Gypsum Member contains marland huge deposits <strong>of</strong> crystalline and noncrystallinegypsum (Fig. 5). <strong>The</strong> Sahwal MarlMember contains marl along with 8-10 feetthick seams <strong>of</strong> rock salt. At the top <strong>of</strong> thismember in the Khewra area, an igneous volcanicbody is exposed known as ‘Khewrite', whichresembles an igneous body that occurs with thePre-Cambrian Harmuz <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>of</strong> Iran. <strong>The</strong> sharpcontact between the <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> Formation andthe overlying Cambrian Khewra Sandstone(Figs. 2 & 6) can also be observed in the gorge.Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology – Book 2009/03 (CG2009_B03), Chapter 6PALEOZOIC ROCKS<strong>The</strong> Paleozoic rocks exposed in the the <strong>Salt</strong><strong>Range</strong> are <strong>of</strong> Cambrian and Permian age, withno strata representing the Ordovician toCarboniferous systems. <strong>The</strong> Cambrian sequencecomprises four formations:Figure 9: <strong>Salt</strong> pseudomorphs in the BaghanwalaFormation.4- Baghanwala Formation3- Jutana Formation2- Kussak Formation1- Khewra SandstoneFigure 10: <strong>The</strong> Permian Warchha Sandstoneoverlying the Dandot Formation exposed along theKhewra-Choa Saidan Shah road.Figure 7: Roadside geology showing the contactbetween the Baghanwala and Tobra Formations inroad cuts.Figure 8: Contact between Baghanwala Formation(with salt pseudomorphs) and the overlying Permianglacial Tobra Formation.<strong>The</strong>se Cambrian formations contain (apartfrom other fossils) a wealth <strong>of</strong> trace fossils,including trails <strong>of</strong> trilobites and worm tracks.<strong>The</strong> Khewera Sandstone shows honeycombweathering, cross-bedding and interaformationalfolds. <strong>The</strong> Baghanwala Formation(Figs. 7-8), which contains salt pseudo-Figure 11: Permian Amb Formation, Pail Area.68
Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology – Book 2009/03 (CG2009_B03), Chapter 6morphs (Fig. 9), is well exposed along theroadside and displays a sharp unconformableupper contact with the overlying Permian glacialdeposits.alternating glacial and stream (ice melt water)deposits. <strong>The</strong> other formations <strong>of</strong> the group, theDandot Formation and Warchha Sandstone, arealso well exposed along the Khewra-ChoaSaidan Shah road with a sharp contact betweenthem (Fig. 10).Figure 12: Fusulinids beds the Amb Formation, PailArea.Figure 15: Middle Productus Limestone in NammalGorge.Figure 13: Fusulinids in the Amb Formation, PailArea.Figure 16: Productus exposed in the limestone inNammal Gorge.Figure 14: A view <strong>of</strong> Nammal Gorge.<strong>The</strong> Permian strata <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> areassigned to two groups, the Nilawan Group andthe Zaluch Group. <strong>The</strong> oldest formation <strong>of</strong> thePermian, the Tobra Formation <strong>of</strong> the NilawanGroup, is a non-marine deposit that showsdifferent facies across the region. In the eastern<strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong>, it is tillitic (glacially deposited),grading into a marine sandstone; in the central<strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> it incorporates lacustrine deposits;in the western <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> and Trans Indusranges it displays a complex facies <strong>of</strong>In the central <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> near Pail the AmbFormation, the youngest formation <strong>of</strong> theZaluch Group, is very well exposed along theroadside, where it contains numerous fusulinidbearingbeds (Figs. 11-13). Further west in theNammal Gorge (Fig. 14), the Wargal Formation(formerly known as the Middle ProductusLimestone) and the Chhidru Formation (formerlyknown as the Upper ProductusLimestone) are exposed, and bear abundantspecimens <strong>of</strong> Productus and other brachiopods(Figs. 15-16). <strong>The</strong> Permian rocks have a sharpupper contact with Triassic rocks, marking aparaconformity. <strong>The</strong> Permian rocks aredistinguished by the presence <strong>of</strong> Productus,whereas the Triassic rocks contains Ceratites.MESOZOIC ROCKS<strong>The</strong> Triassic Mianwali Formation is very wellexposed in the Nammal Gorge as well as in theDhak Pass, where beautiful Ceratites specimenscan be found along the roadside (Figs. 17-19).<strong>The</strong> lower contact <strong>of</strong> the Mianwali Formation69
<strong>The</strong> non-marine Miocene-Pliocene rocksknown as the Lower and Upper Siwaliks (Figs.26-28) are famous for their vertebrate faunaincluding mammals (among which is the largestmammal), birds and reptiles.Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology – Book 2009/03 (CG2009_B03), Chapter 6Figure 25: <strong>The</strong> Choegali Formation <strong>of</strong> Eocene agecontains numerous Nummulites, shown in this image.Figure 22: <strong>The</strong> Paleogene Lockhart Limestoneexposed along a road side near Nammal Gorge.Figure 26: <strong>The</strong> Lower and Upper Siwaliks, nonmarineMiocene-Pliocene rocks, occur in the <strong>Salt</strong><strong>Range</strong>.Figure 23: Nodular foraminiferal limestone beds inthe Lockhart Limestone.Figure 27: Differential weathering and badlandsexposures in the Siwaliks.Figure 24: Sakesar Limestone.71
Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology – Book 2009/03 (CG2009_B03), Chapter 6Figure 28: Vertebrate fossils are well preserved andabundant at localities in the Siwaliks.4. Recommendations<strong>The</strong> <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> contains a number <strong>of</strong> <strong>unique</strong>fossil occurrences and many occurrences thatare useful in research and education. It shouldbe considered carefully by local paleontologistsfor the preservation and conservation <strong>of</strong> theseresources. Those sites (<strong>of</strong> any geographicextent) that are deemed worthy <strong>of</strong> preservationshould be designated a potential PaleoPark andlocal efforts to preserve them should ensue.This will require significant efforts because <strong>of</strong>the numerous sites, and the size andpaleontological fame <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong>.Acknowledgements<strong>The</strong> author is grateful to Pr<strong>of</strong>. Jere H. LIPPSfor encouragement, guidance and editing, andto Pr<strong>of</strong>. Richard J. ALDRIDGE for editing the text.Bibliographic referencesAFZAL J. (1997, unpublished).- Foraminiferalbiostratigraphy and paleoenvironments <strong>of</strong>the Patala and Nammal formations at thePaleocene-Eocene boundary in the <strong>Salt</strong><strong>Range</strong> and Surgar <strong>Range</strong>, Pakistan.- Ph.D.<strong>The</strong>sis, Punjab University, Lahore, 155 p.AFZAL J. & BUTT A.A. 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(1967).- Geology <strong>of</strong> the KhewraDome.- Proceedings <strong>of</strong> the 18th and 19thcombined session <strong>of</strong> All Pakistan ScienceConference, University <strong>of</strong> Sind, Hyderabad,Part-III, Abstracts, F3-F4.BALME B.E. (1970).- Palynology <strong>of</strong> Permian andTriassic strata in the <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> and Surghar<strong>Range</strong>, West Pakistan. In: KUMMEL B. &TEICHERT C. (eds.), Stratigraphic boundaryproblems: Permian and Triassic <strong>of</strong> WestPakistan.- University <strong>of</strong> Kansas, SpecialPublication, Lawrence, n° 4, p. 305-453.CHEEMA M.R. (1974).- Bauxite and clay deposits<strong>of</strong> a part <strong>of</strong> Katha-Arara area, KhushabTehsil, Sargodha Dist. Punjab, WestPakistan.- Pakistan Geological Survey,Information Release, Quetta, n° 76, 21 p.COLBERT E.H. 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Carnets de Géologie / Notebooks on Geology – Book 2009/03 (CG2009_B03), Chapter 6Š. & KOTNIK B. (eds.), International worshopPostojna '96'.<strong>The</strong> role <strong>of</strong> impact processes inthe geological and biological evolution <strong>of</strong> theplanet Earth.- Scientific Research CentreSAZU, Ljubljana, p. 70-73.SAMEENI S.J. & BUTT A.A. (2004).- Alveolinidbiostratigraphy <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong> succession,Northern Pakistan.- Revue de Paléobiologie,Genève, vol. 23, n° 2, p. 505-527.SAMEENI S.J. & HOTTINGER L. (2003).- Elongateand larger alveolinids from Choregali Formation,Bhadrar area, <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong>, Pakistan.-Pakistan Journal <strong>of</strong> Environmental Science,3, p. 16-23.SHAH S.M.I. (1977).- Stratigraphy <strong>of</strong> Pakistan.-Geological Survey <strong>of</strong> Pakistan, Memoirs,Quetta, vol. 12, 138 p.WAAGEN W. (1882-1885).- (Ser. XIII.) - <strong>Salt</strong><strong>Range</strong> fossils. Productus limestone fossils.-Memoirs <strong>of</strong> the Geological Survey <strong>of</strong> India,Palæontologia Indica, Calcutta, vol. I, part 4,Brachiopoda, p. 329–770, 62 Pls.WAAGEN W. (1895).- (Ser. XIII.) - <strong>Salt</strong> <strong>Range</strong>fossils. Fossils from Ceratite Formation.-Memoirs <strong>of</strong> the Geological Survey <strong>of</strong> India,Palæontologia Indica, Calcutta, (series XIII),vol. II, part I, Pisces-Ammonoidea, 324 p.,40 Pls.73